Page 107 of Mile High Ruin

Then I reach a section that makes me stop. “What is this?”

Marek already knows what I found. “Juvenile detention.”

I look up. “Sloane?”

“Apparently.”

“For what?”

“Assault, initially.”

That doesn’t fit neatly with the woman sleeping in the next room, though after watching her deliberately pour champagne on me and kick Hale hard enough to nearly incapacitate him, perhaps I shouldn’t be entirely surprised.

“How old?”

“Sixteen.”

“What happened?”

Marek reaches over and turns one page. “The official record is sealed, so getting details was a pain in the ass, but we found enough from local court references and an old police report. She got into a fight outside a convenience store. Another girl ended up with a broken nose, and Sloane spent several weeks in juvenile detention after violating probation.”

Anton looks over. “Why was she on probation?”

“Shoplifting.”

I stare at Marek. “Shoplifting.”

“Apparently she stole groceries. Her mother had lost work around that period, her brother was already having health problems, though not the cancer yet, and the family was struggling. Nothing indicates organized crime, fraud, or anything remotely sophisticated. She was sixteen, angry, broke, and apparently very willing to punch people.”

I glance toward the bedroom door. “That part has remained consistent.”

Anton almost smiles.

Marek turns another page. “There was also a trespassing incident at seventeen.”

“Why?”

“She and two friends broke into a municipal swimming pool after hours.”

I look at him. “That’s what you consider relevant?”

“I said I had inquiries made. I didn’t personally choose every stupid thing she did as a teenager.”

Anton reaches for the folder. “Anything since she turned eighteen?”

“Nothing criminal. A few traffic tickets. One complaint from a passenger three years ago that went nowhere. Excellent employee reviews until the incident that got her fired.”

“What happened there?” I ask.

Marek’s expression becomes more serious. “The airline’s report says she behaved aggressively toward a first-class passenger and violated service protocol.”

My jaw tightens. I have an idea of what must have happened. That explains several things about the way she reacted to Hale even before the assault. It also explains why she had no patience for his behavior from the moment we boarded.

Anton looks at the documents. “So we have financial pressure, but nothing that ties her to Petrov.”

“No,” Marek says. “No unexplained deposits, no foreign contacts that stand out, no travel pattern that matches his people, and nothing in her phone records we have access to that suggests she knew anything about Vadim before the assignment.”

I close the folder. “Then why are we still discussing whether she planted the tracker?”